Winter Skin

It's that time again where our skin really starts to feel the effects of the cold.  Given the extremes of the Polar Vortex and all, it seems almost worse in my corner of the world. 

I recently went to Las Vegas for a work trip and found myself at Sephora on my one night off and had an amazing experience (a first for me).  I walked out with some great new additions to the line-up.

• I couldn't justify the price of the Tata Harper Regenerating Cleanser. So my genius sales guy sent me home with five packets of samples and I was online ordering it by week's end!  It has willowbark and apricot kernels (no St. Ives here) with tiny exfoliants that make your skin feel glowing.
• After cleansing, I add the Rejuvenating Serum as my base layer of moisture.  It's light and smells of herbs. A little goes a LONG way and you can use it day and night!
• Next up, I pat on Josie Maran's Argan Oil.  You can use this at night too. Tip : The best way to apply a face oil is to put it in the palm of your hand, warm it up and then roll your palm across your face.  Apparently when you glide it on, it doesn't absorb as fast.
• I add the La Mer cream after the layer of face oil.  I swear by that stuff but its a total indulgence.
• At night, I switch out the La Mer with Origin's Night-A-Mins.  Origins is the most natural line that Estee Lauder brands makes so you can't go wrong.
• The Resurfacing Mask really takes off a few layers of dead stuff without making you feel like it did.
• The Sugar Face Polish by Fresh and the Lip Balm are fantastic. The lip balm was quite pricey compared to my $2 Chapstick staples but I can feel a definite difference. 
• I bought the sample of Josie Maran Cleansing Oil, not having full faith in an oil cleanser at all.  I saw how it took off black eyeliner from my hand in the store, but something felt so counter-intuitive about putting oil on your face to clean. It gets all the hard-to-ply-off eye makeup right off! Tip : apply to dry or almost dry face and swirl around, then add water.  The water will help dissolve everything but doesn't fight with the oil like it would if your face was wet to start.

I spent more than I should have (thank God for sample sizes in some of the things) and had to walk away, but came up with a pretty killer skincare bucket list, too.  

• Kai perfume really meshes well with my 'fairy gnomes' (Mom and I like to refer to pheromones as such).  It has that beachy monoi and frangipani vibe going on. 
• This Marula oil felt amazing on my skin when I tried it at the Sephora in Vegas.  Had I not been so budget-conscious, I totally would've snagged this over the Josie Maran Argan Oil. Tip: Marula, Argan and other natural face oils are so compatible with our skin beacuse of the size of the oil molecules in these oils.  Other oils and petroleum based products can leave a residue or oily feeling because the molecules are too large to absorb into the skin!
• Omorovicza products!  This thermal mud cleansing balm is no joke at $105 a bottle but the cleansing properties and feeling of your skin afterwards is well worth the investment.  Her spray-on toner also felt like a drink of water for the skin. Tip : You can use a good quality spray toner to help your skincare products and makeup, making it even more versatile than its once thought of tightening properties. If you mist your face before applying creams or makeup, it helps the ingredients glide across your skin surface, maximizing the effect while allowing you to use less product!
• Tata Harper also makes a body oil! Anyone have any experience with it?

I can't afford to go hog wild like this on products all the time, so I hope I can make these last (I should've bought the Omorovicza toner to help with that!). I don't mind spending a little money on good products, but I'm not in a position to buy really expensive products every time I'm out.  I have to supplement some drug-store finds into the mix during most of the year.

If you are looking for new go-to's, I highly recommend anything Tata Harper makes.  You can read her story here about how she developed this au naturale line for her father who was receiving Chemotherapy treatments and couldn't use anything synthetic.  She grows 29 of the ingredients at her farm in Vermont and really cares about quality.  What finally justified the expense to me was that all of her products are meant to be worn Day or Night.  There is no separate Night Cream.  That's how it should be! I have been dying to try her products before investing and I wish I had known about this sampler kit on Amazon!

Hope this helps you on your own skincare mission. I would LOVE to hear your lineup and wishlists, too, so please share if you are willing!!